Sep 14, 2017
The MAL score suggests diamond-like quality, but this part 4 of JoJo's adventures is much more comparable to a polished crystal. It's very clean, impressively shaped, but ultimately, while it's pretty to look at, it won't make you rich.
Considering only the entertainment value, this anime is amazing in every aspect, it's audio-visually pleasing, characters have enough room for development, storytelling is decent, the occasional comedy is on point. I actually enjoyed watching it more than around 90% of shows on my list...
However, that's it. I had a blast while watching, but the fact that I completed it today will not be on my mind tomorrow,
...
which is a shame, really. This emotional fade-out is something I expect from a top 50-ish anime.
Even without the additional value, "Diamond is Unbreakable" would probably deserve it's place in MAL ranking, if it wasn't so ridiculously flawed.
The story starts of strong with the introduction of main protagonists, has an acceptable finish, but the middle part, which uses mostly the 1-problem-per-2-episodes formula, is kind of hit-and-miss. Almost every episode contains some form of convenient bullcrap. Jotaro ignores the effectiveness of his own power, Koichi and the others are being purposely dumb, blind and whatnot... typical anime shenanigans. While this is acceptable in a battle shounen, it doesn't complement the criminal/thriller aspect of the story very well.
Compared to the other parts of JoJo, the twists and climaxes are much more consistent in terms of quality, but that's not necessarily a good thing. While "Stardust Crusaders" had it's pathetic lows, the last 7 or so episodes were more memorable than anything from "Diamond is Unbreakable" simply because the hype curve went from close-to-zero right off the charts.
The best word I can find to describe the art of "Diamond is Unbreakable" is "outstanding", because it really stands out in terms of colors, art style and animation. The animation feels less fluid as it felt in the prequels, but it is still above average. The lighter and cooler color palette is fresh and interesting. I also have the impression that the drawing of characters has improved quite a lot (might be a thing that transitioned from manga)
Opening themes are good, but in my opinion way worse than the first 4 JoJo openings. Endings are about the same quality as they were before (=great).
Soundtrack goes well with situations and the art style, but the score is not very memorable by itself.
Characters are not very balanced personality-wise. There are some good and at least somehow complex characters like Josuke, Jotaro, Kira, Rohan, but there are also annoying simpletons like Koichi, Hazamada, Yukako. However, as I've pointed out in the beginning, each one of them has enough time to shine and they are used often and properly, which is quite unusual and commendable, even though this notably delays the story progression. Quite a shame, really, this would have been a great slice of life drama setting, but it's a battle-driven story instead... yare yare daze.
To sum it all up, the 4th part of JoJo's adventures might be the best one of the pack (I still enjoyed "Battle Tendency" more), but it has it's objective flaws which shouldn't be overlooked. I would argue that the MAL community overrates it a little, but that's just my insignificant impression. Still a strong 7/10 (story 5 + 2 for the execution of the thriller aspect in battle environment, art 10, sound 7, characters 6,5, enjoyment 10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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